Rocket Robin Hood episode 'Dementia Five'! (1968)

Rocket Robin Hood was an animated TV series produced in Canada from 1966 - 1969.

Remembered fondly by many who grew up in that era, it was a sci-fi adventure series that took Robin Hood and his
Merry Men and put them in an outer-space setting in the year 3000.

I recall absolutely adoring this show as a kid, and being shocked revisiting it years later years to discover how clunky the limited animation was and how simple the stories were.

Watching the show's opening theme though, ▼ I can still see now what I saw in it then...



- As a small bonus, also check out one of the 'expository vignettes' about one of Rocket Robin's men.
Follow the link this small clip of Friar Tuck, which left an indelible memory for me, and may be responsible for some of my adult eating habits...

Sometime during the second season of the show, personnel change in it's production team brought in background designer
Richard H. Thomas and director Ralph Bakshi.

Bakshi had worked his way up in the field of animation while working for Terrytoons and Famous Studios, before opening his own studio in 1968. It was in '72 that Bakshi released his adaptation of R.Crumb's 'Fritz The Cat', his first in a series of animated feature films.

By the third season of 'Rocket Robin Hood', Bakshi and Thomas had given the look and feel of the series a new, slightly darker, more psychedelic tone that often made for some curious results.

Below ▼, 'Dementia Five' - - by far the 'trippiest' episode of the series...

- As a bit of trivia, much of the 'Dementia Five' episode's storyline, script, voice talent and animation cels were re-used in a Spider-Man cartoon (produced at the same studio for American TV), for the 1970 episode 'Revolt In The Fifth Dimension', which you can currently watch at You Tube - -

- Spider-Man: 'Revolt In The Fifth Dimension', Part 1
- Spider-Man: 'Revolt In The Fifth Dimension', Part 2

(Thanks are due to animation historian Jerry Beck for re-kindling many fond memories at one of his Comic-Con 'Worst Cartoons' presentations.)

Los Bravos - Like Nobody Else (1966)

This cover of an early Bee Gee's tune was recorded by Madrid's
Los Bravos roughly around the same time that their huge hit
'Black Is Black' made them the first Spanish beat group to score a top ten hit in both the U.K. and the U.S.

- You can also hear their version of the same song song in Spanish, as 'Como Nadie Mas Te Amo Yo'.

Sugar Pie DeSanto - Rock Me Baby (1964)

This footage of diminutive blues-belter Sugar Pie DeSanto was captured during the American Folk Blues Festival as it toured Europe in 1964.

The backing band on this clip includes blues luminaries Willie Dixon on bass, Hubert Sumlin on guitar, and Clifton James on drums.

See also:
- A video clip of Sugar Pie performing 'Baby, What You Want Me To Do' from the same concert.

- A 1999 Sugar Pie DeSanto interview at Roctober.Com.

DEVO - Worried Man (1982)

The video clip below includes the framing device from the 1983 'We're All DEVO' home video compilation, featuring Laraine Newman and Michael Swartz as The Rooters, Donut and Rod...



DEVO adapted the old traditional 'Worried Man Blues' for a sequence in Neil Young's little-seen film, 'Human Highway', a musical fantasy-comedy set on the eve of nuclear apocalypse.

Much of the filming for the movie took place in 1978.
The film received a very limited theatrical release in 1982.

The movie was co-directed by Neil Young and Dean Stockwell. The cast included Young, Stockwell, the members of DEVO, Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and Sally Kirkland.

The film's score was the first by Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, who has gone on to great success in that field over the years.

'Human Highway' was eventually released to VHS and Laserdisc in 1995, but other than isolated clips (like this one), there has been no commercial release for the film since then.

DEVO performed this song in concert occasionally, usually in their 'opening act' guise of 'DOVE, The Band Of Love'.

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - Season Of The Witch (1968)

The track (first written and performed by Donovan) appeared on the 1967 LP, 'Open'

See also: A Julie Driscoll post at Another Nickel In The Machine

Hildegard Knef - Von nun an gings bergab (From Here On It Got Rough) (1968)

Below, German singer / actress Hildegard Knef (1925 - 2002) with the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra, from a 1968 performance in Berlin.



- Follow the link to hear Knef's english language version of this song, or click on this one to read the lyrics in english.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers (2007)

Amazing in it's scope and detail, diabolical in it's simplicity and appeal.

Alonzo Mosley (FBI), the creator of this piece, has posted a list of all the referenced films at his blog, Acrentropy.

See also: From the same creator, his follow-up,
'The Centennial Edition', another '100' list, counting up the years from 1901 to 2000.

Saul Bass discusses his work on film titles (1977)

Saul Bass (1920 - 1996) was a prolific and influential graphic designer.

Among many achievements in animation and poster and logo design, his work in the arena of title sequences for film changed the industry.

In 'Bass On Titles', a 35-minute film produced in '77, he discussed his work and showed several examples.

See also:
Saul Bass on the web

(Found via lightgreen)

Ernie Kovacs meets Esquivel - - 'Musical Office' & 'Kitchen Symphony' (1961)

Two classic musical moments from The Ernie Kovacs Show, featuring Juan Garcia Esquivel's space-age pop arrangements.

Above, ▲ versions of 'Jalousie' & 'Sentimental Journey'.

Below, ▼ Esquivel's arrangement of 'Cherokee' gets similar treatment.

Very innovative video concepts for 1961.

I was too young to have caught Ernie Kovacs on TV the first time around, but was completely glued to the 'best of' show that ran on PBS in the 1970s.

I never forgot these sequences.

Orishas - 'Bruja', featuring Rossy de Palma (2008)

The song comes from Cuban hip-hop trio Orishas, and can be found on their '08 album, 'Cosita Buena'.

The music video is an homage to director Russ Meyer's classic 1965 exploitation film, 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!', and features the striking Rossy de Palma (an alumna of Spanish director
Pedro Almodóvar's films) playing multiple roles.

(found via everlasting blort)

The Boban Marković Orchestra - Otpisani (2002)

From a concert recorded in Belgrade, Serbian trumpet king
Boban Marković's orchestra is one of the world's greatest Balkan Brass bands, and are regular favorites at the massive annual Guča trumpet festival.

In 1967, 'American Bandstand' teens react to changes in The Beatles' sound

By 1967, The Beatles were in the habit of using promotional film clips of their new songs that could stand in for them in lieu of personal appearances on TV.

The look of these musical shorts reflected the changes occurring in the sound and sensibilities of the fabs.
For better or worse, they were no longer the 'lovable moptops'.

Below, ▼ 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.



On March 11th, 1967, The Beatles won three Grammy awards, for the songs 'Eleanor Rigby', 'Michelle', and their LP 'Revolver'.

Meanwhile, they'd been in the studio recording tracks for their
'Sgt. Pepper' album that would be released later that year.

Also on March 11th, 1967, the 'Strawberry Fields' short was shown
(in black & white) on ABC's 'American Bandstand', along with their 'Penny Lane' promo.

Below, ▼ AB host Dick Clark sits in a Los Angeles TV studio and polls his teenage audience for their candid reactions to the latest from
The Beatles, and that's exactly what he gets...



Below, ▼ 'Penny Lane'.

Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan - Tennessee Bird Walk (1970)

An old favorite, the biggest chart hit for Florida husband & wife duo Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan.

Hazmat Modine - Bahamut (2006)

Vocalist/harmonica player Wade Schuman fronts NYC-based
Hazmat Modine, performing the title track from their brilliant first CD in footage from an April 12, 2006 appearance on Russian TV.

See also:
-Hazmat Modine official homepage
-Hazmat Modine at MySpace

Below, more from the same session...

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Tell Me (2007)

Filmed on location in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

The track is from the band's '07 release, '100 Days, 100 Nights', their 3rd full-length album.

Learn more at the Daptone Records website and the Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' MySpace page.

The Bellrays - Voodoo Train (2002)

Lisa Kekaula (vocals), Bob Vennum (bass), Tony Fate (guitar) and Craig Waters (drums), out of Riverside, California.

As broadcast on San Diego's 'Fox Rox' on 8/7/2002.
The track was on The Bellrays' album 'The Red, White and Black', first released in 2003.

See, hear, learn more about The Bellrays at their website and their MySpace page.

The Evolution Control Committee - I Want A Cookie

The song was included on the ECC's 'Plagiarhythm Nation v2.0' CD, released in 2003 on Seeland Records.

Madeline Kahn in 'De Düva' (The Dove) (1968)

'De Düva', a brilliant parody of Ingmar Bergman's films, and one of Madeline Kahn's earliest film appearances.

It stars and was co-directed by George Coe, the 'forgotten' member of 'The Not Ready For Prime Time Players' in the first season of TV's 'Saturday Night Live'.

The film was nominated for a 'short subject' Oscar in the 1969 Academy Awards.

Falling From Space

Footage recorded on 9/9/06 by a fixed camera mounted to one of the twin rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Watch its view of the separation from the shuttle, a tumble through space and re-entering Earth's atmosphere as it falls back to the surface.
Mesmerizing!

David Bowie performs 'Stay' live on Dinah Shore's talk show, 1976

As first broadcast on 'Dinah!',
January 3rd, 1976.

(Some details of the daytime talk show appearance are available at the
Bowie Golden Years website.)

Bowie's recording of the song was first released three weeks later on his classic 'Station To Station' album.



You can also view this clip with a lengthy intro from Dinah Shore (with guests Henry Winkler and Nancy Walker) at Dailymotion.

YouTube has excerpts of the rest of this Bowie TV appearance, including:

- Sitting and chatting with Dinah immediately following his 'Stay' performance.

- Joining Nancy Walker and Henry Winkler ("The David Bowie of 'Happy Days'") on the couch for more interview.

- David takes part in a brief martial arts lesson. (No, seriously)

- A loss in video quality as Bowie performs 'Five Years'.

'Welcome To Eltingville' pilot (2002)

A faithful re-creation of characters created by comics artist / animation writer Evan Dorkin that have appeared in his anthology comic book, 'Dork'.

The one-and-only TV episode of 'Welcome To Eltingville' ran on the Cartoon Network's 'Adult Swim'.

It could have made a great series...

Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen (featuring Bill Kirchen) - Live in '71

The Cody band performing 'Seeds And Stems (Again)', 'Hot Rod Lincoln', and
'Jailhouse Rock' in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1971, as seen in the concert film 'Ten for Two'.

Commander Cody - Everybody's Doin' It

A musical interlude from the 1976 Roger Corman flick,
'Hollywood Boulevard'.

Commander Cody Band - 2 Triple Cheese (circa 1981)

The music video features the now-extinct Kwik-Way Drive-In Oakland, California.
It was directed by Joe Dea, and aired several times 'back in the day' on 'VideoWest' a locally-originated show that ran on KQED,
San Francisco's PBS station.

The song was released on the Cody Band's 'Lose It Tonight' LP from 1981, released on the Peter Pan record label (yes, the kiddie record label).

Stereo Total - Wir Tanzen Im 4-Eck (2002)

The song appeared originally on the Stereo Total album, 'Musique Automatique', released in 2001.



- - plus a different take on the same snappy number...

Ursula 1000 - Electrik Boogie (2006)

See also: Ursula 1000 website

The Muffs - Don't Pick On Me (2004)

Animation by Tom Neely.

The song is off of The Muffs album 'Really Really Happy'.

The Raymond Scott Quintette - War Dance For Wooden Indians (1938)

From the film 'Happy Landing'.

The Boswell Sisters - Heebie Jeebies (1932)

Connee, Martha and Vet, as featured in the film 'The Big Broadcast'.

Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five - Let The Good Times Roll

Louis Jordan - Saturday Night Fish Fry (1966)

From the TV show 'The!!! Beat' that was taped in Dallas, Texas and broadcast out of Nashville, Tennessee. (Or was it the other way around? Reports vary.)

The host is R&B disc jockey Bill "Hoss" Allen, the house band is The Beat Boys, led by guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

Jordan was 58 at the time, and kicks ass. His appearances on this show were apparently the only time his performances were captured in color.